Chapter Text
It was the last week of the peak summer season in Baybridge and the beach was packed with its usual crowd of families, elderly and retired couples, and college kids enjoying what was left of their vacation. Ed loved this time of year, loved watching the little kids splash in the water and witnessing the look of pure bliss on the face of beachgoers who came just to relax in the sun. After years of running Blackbeard’s Beach Club, he could always spot the familiar faces of locals who came to this beautiful beach every day, as well as the families who came down for the summer season every year. There was a bittersweet feeling in the air that came with the knowledge that summer was coming to an end.
Ed took his normal route as he walked down the boardwalk to ensure everything was running smoothly. Roach’s Snack Shack had its usual never ending line of people waiting for their delicious sandwiches and ice cream. Buttons was up on the ladder making sure the banner advertising their yearly Last Splash End of Summer Dance was up for all to see at the entrance to the beach club. Wee John and Frenchie were running their stand of handmade and hand-sewn “Blackbeard’s Beach Club” beach towels and apparel. Lucius was down by the pool running his biweekly water aerobics class for the surprisingly fit old ladies who lived in town.
“Well, hello handsome,” Lucius said, in a sing-songy voice as he noticed Ed walking towards the pool. He did this every time because he knew the old ladies all harbored a little crush on Ed. A chorus of “Hello Ed!” erupted as the faces of the women lit up when they spotted him.
“Hello, loves. You all look great as always,” Ed said, throwing them all a wink as he came to stand next to Lucuis, looking down at them lined up in the pool. “I hope your instructor here isn’t working you too hard.”
“Please,” Lucius said, with a fond eye-roll. “If anything, they’re overworking me! They’re too good to keep up with sometimes! Especially Barbara over here, she should really be running this class by now.”
Barbara and the rest of the women giggled, always loving when Lucius and Ed shamelessly flirted with them. They were always calling them “handsome young men” despite Ed having a good 20 years on Lucius.
“Ed, dear, are you bringing a date to the last splash this year?” asked one of the women.
They asked Ed this every year. They were always trying to set him up with their sons, other beachgoers or even with the lifeguards. Their meddling was very sweet and Ed even took them up on their offers the first few times but it never went anywhere. Sure, Ed ended up sleeping with them once or a few times (okay maybe more than a few times) but he never felt happy afterwards. He always felt like he was looking for something… more.
“Well, how can I dance with any of you if I bring a date?” Ed teased. “I gotta get going but I’ll see you ladies around.” He pat Lucius on the shoulder before heading off back down the boardwalk.
Ed really had nowhere else to be but sometimes he got sad thinking about not having someone to share all of this with. He had a lovely house right on the beach next to the boardwalk that he bought when he took over the beach club. He came out onto his balcony every morning, which overlooked the beauty of the beach and often felt a little ache at not having someone there besides him. Ed had never been in love before but he always wished he could be, especially now in his older age. He’s had his fair share of one night stands and f*ck buddy relationships. He wanted someone to settle down with him, maybe even run that beachside inn with him that he’d been scheming about in his head.
Ed was shaken out of his thoughts when he ran into Buttons, looking concerned.
“Hey man, everything alright?” Ed asked.
“Capt’n, sir. There seems to be a big storm a-brewin”
Ed looked around, at the beautifully clear sky. “I heard about some nasty weather coming tonight, but nothing to worry too much about, mate.”
“The sea, she has something important planned. Prepare ye-self, cap’n,” Buttons said, with a pointed look before walking off without another word.
Buttons was always saying weirdly cryptic sh*t like that so Ed just shook it off and carried on with his day.
As the day continued, dark gray clouds came into view, blocking out the sun. Even the normal gorgeous sunset looked muted and dim, as Ed watched people slowly filter off the beach for the evening. At the end of the day, after helping the crew put everything away to prepare for the storm, the sky opened up as Ed walked back to his house. Feeling the chill of his air conditioning as he entered the house, he slipped out of his black linens (a long-time replacement for his leathers he wore when he first moved to Baybride) and into his sweatpants. He turned the gas on under the teapot as he felt Kraken’s little fury cat body rub against his ankles.
“Hello, girl. Did you miss me?” Ed said, in the soft-voice he only used for Kraken, as he bent down to pick her up and move her to the couch. After making his tea he joined Kraken on the couch which is where he ended up falling asleep with her in his lap.
When he was jolted awake an hour later, by a deafening clap of thunder, the house was completely dark. Kraken was long gone, probably hiding somewhere from the intense storm that has begun outside. He pushed himself off the couch to look out the windows and noticed it must have started pouring rain outside during his nap. He headed into the kitchen to make some sad microwave dinner, too lazy to cook like he usually does before settling back on the couch, curled up under the blanket as he turned the TV on. There’s a marathon of some old Nickelodeon show about Australian teenage mermaids that he found himself oddly invested in.
His mind eventually drifted back to the conversation about bringing a date to Last Splash with the women from the pool. Should he really even try to find someone who will settle in with him into his cozy life? Or was he being over-dramatic and should just find someone to have a nice evening at the dance without worrying so goddamn much about anything else? He knew all the women and staff of Blackbeard’s wanted him to find someone and as much as Ed pretended he didn't want that, he knew that’s never been true. He’d always been yearning for a little something more, something different than anything else he’d experienced in his life.
A partner. Or as Buttons keeps telling him, a co-captain .
He really had been thinking seriously about that beachside inn idea. Maybe converting this giant house, which always felt so empty to him, into a little bed and breakfast, right on the beach. The idea of running it by himself was a bit daunting, despite all the hard work he put into taking over the beach club a few years back and making it his own. He loved the beach club, he really did. He’d taken over it when he’d first moved to Baybridge, retiring from a life he no longer liked to think about. His mom had adored this beach when they were kids, always dreamed of buying this house for herself. Even though his mom had been gone for quite some time when he finally bought the house, he still felt like being here, in this town his mother loved so much, was something he needed in his life. While running the successful beach club was how he enjoyed spending his days since arriving in Baybridge, he got bored of it easily. Felt a bit monotonous after a while, every summer feeling the same. In the off seasons, he usually went back to New Zealand to feel at home but this is the first year he decided to try out spending the entire year here. He knew his inn would be successful but for some reason he lacked the motivation to even begin the process of making it a reality. Not to mention that lonely feeling that crept up on him every now and again….
He was reminded of some bullsh*t he saw on Tiktok about “manifestation.” Putting the idea of what you want for yourself out into the universe, hoping it will actually happen. He wondered if any of that was worth it. As he looked around the house, ( does it feel bigger and emptier than usual? ), he decided it couldn’t hurt. After busting out a candle he found from his abandoned meditation efforts, he lights it, takes a deep breath and says, “I will open this inn. I will find what I’m looking for.”
Just as he got the words out, the lights and electronics in the house started violently flickering, turning on and off before the power shut off completely.
“Well,” Ed said, sighing. “f*ck manifestation, I guess.”
After cleaning up from dinner, he stopped to feed Jeff the Goldfish, who never came out of hiding from the little goldfish cave in his bowl. It was a full moon. The wind outside was whipping the rain onto the glass windows of the house. The thunder got louder and the lightning got brighter as he settled into bed. He could hear the loud crash of waves, which sounded way closer to his house than it should be but that was a problem for tomorrow. Kraken appeared soon after that, plopping herself onto her pillow at the foot of Ed’s bed.
“Goodnight, Kraken,” Ed said before he drifted off to sleep, as the intense coastal storm raged outside and a giant wave crashed over the gates of the pool and into the chlorine.
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
When Ed’s alarm went off the next morning, the first thing he noticed was how quiet it was outside. Despite it being cloudy, the light filtering through his window was a stark contrast to how dark the sky was during the storm last night. From his position on the bed, with only the sky visible to him, he would have never guessed a storm as bad as the one that took place last night had blown through.
Ed forced himself out of bed and out the doors onto his balcony to assess any damage to the beach and Blackbeard’s section of the boardwalk. He set his alarm for an early enough time because he knew the crew would be hard at work all day, most likely cleaning up whatever wreckage was left behind.
f*ck . The damage wasn’t the worst he’d seen but still substantial. From his view, he could see browning, shedded palm branches scattered across the beach and the boardwalk. The seated area by Roach’s Snack Shack was littered with debris and the chairs were overturned and broken. An awning from one of the vendor stands must have snapped in half and blown over onto the sand, along with a few of the picnic table umbrellas, looking mangled to hell. The pool was full of sh*t he couldn’t even identify.
Down below, he saw Jim, Olu, Wee John, and some of the other crew had already arrived to begin cleaning up. After throwing on his black linens and a cropped purple tee he headed down to join them.
“I love what you’ve done with the place,” Ed teased as he approached the pool area.
“Hey, boss,” Olu said, looking up from where he was sweeping. Next to him, Jim gave him a nod of acknowledgement before they continued to pick up pieces of debris.
“Looks like you were right about that storm, Buttons” Ed said, as his employee emerged from the hut he lived in right by the pool.
“Aye, sir. Only the sea could conjure som’thin this impressive” Buttons said, looking out at the ocean in awe.
“ Impressive?” Jim repeated indignantly. “This is gonna take days to clean up properly.”
“ sh*t. You think we should cancel Last Splash?” Ed suggested, surveying his crew for input.
“You can’t do that!!” Lucius screamed, from off to the side where he was sitting on what was left of their intact pool chairs, sipping an iced coffee before he stormed up to Ed.
“Babes, with all due respect, that’s an awful idea. Everyone has been waiting all summer for that dance!”
“Yeah and Jim’s been practicing their drag performance for weeks, you can’t do that to them!” Archie yelled, appearing out of nowhere. Where the hell did she come from?
Everyone suddenly crowded around Ed where he stood next to the pool, shouting concerns and reasons for why the dance needed to go on. As his crew started arguing with each other around him, forming their own angry huddle off the side of him, Ed looked down into the now filthy, littered pool below him. As he took in the seaweed, branches, and whatever the hell else washed up into the pool, he noticed a brief glowing light in the water. It danced under the debris, almost like someone was shining a spotlight beneath the water. He crouched down near the pool to investigate further.
What the hell is that?
“Hey, Buttons, did you leave the pool lights on?” Ed asked, curiously.
Just as Ed adjusted himself a bit closer to the pool, the old tile beneath his sandals crumbled out from under him and before he knew it he was falling face first into the pool, screaming. He briefly heard someone yell his name as he sank under the surface.
He flailed helplessly in the water around him before opening his eyes to look around the water. f*ck , he knew his paralyzing fear of drowning, despite owning a damn beach club, would be a f*cking problem one day. Whenever he entered a body of water his body would freeze and suddenly he forgot everything he learned about swimming and this time was no different.
As he looked around the water, something large, with a golden-orange and yellow tail appeared in his eyesight as soon as it disappeared. What the f*ck?
He squinted, investigating further, to make sure he was seeing things clearly and not just losing oxygen to his brain. Through his blurry vision, he saw a face, surrounded by flowing blonde hair with tips of orange. It looked almost… human. He couldn’t make out the features of the face but he heard the creature humming eerily at him.
Officially freaked out, but determined to communicate with this… being… he acted against all logic and opened his mouth to yell out to it. As he swallowed way too much water, and genuinely feared he would die in this disgusting pool, he felt the arms of someone ( a quite muscly someone) , wrap around him and pull him to the top. As they breached the surface of the water, Ed choked and spat up the water from his lungs, screaming, “THERE’S A SHARK IN THE POOL!”
He clung onto his savior, who basically bridal-carried Ed out of the water and deposited him onto the ground. Only then had Ed noticed that the muscly guy who saved them was Blackbeard’s most popular lifeguard, Sam. Sam was one of the many people his crew tried to set him up with. He was nice, always flirting with Ed, handsome, and ripped as hell, with this flowing chocolate hair and beautiful brown eyes that made him look like a Disney prince. Ed had never entertained the idea of dating someone on his staff, that felt way too icky for him. Everyone on staff was in relationships with each other or had f*cked, or was currently f*cking, each other but he was the boss. He couldn’t date his employees. Sam had asked him out a few times and Ed had politely declined but he will admit he’s had a tiny crush on him. Not even a crush, just a “wow you’re nice to look at” on him.
So, falling into the pool and being saved, having screamed about a shark in the pool while the beautiful (shirtless!) man bore witness to it all was incredibly embarrassing.
Fantastic . Just great.
Ed continued to hack his lungs out and gasped for air. Jesus, how much water did I swallow? His crew had once again huddled around him, faces riddled down with concern.
“Are you alright, boss?”
“I saw something! It’s in there- I don’t know what it was!” Ed said, through gasps of breath. He coughed out more water as he looked up at the faces of the crew, who looked worried. Lucius appeared with a towel, crouched down to wrap it around Ed’s shoulders.
“Thanks, mate,” Ed said in a small voice.
“Half of the ocean probably washed up in there last night,” Olu said. “Why don’t you go get changed, boss. Buttons, can you lock up the patio? We don’t want anyone else falling in.”
Olu and Sam helped Ed to his feet as he shivered and pulled the towel tighter around him.
“That was awesome, Sam,” Lucius said next to him.
“Thanks, Sam,” Ed said sheepishly. Sam gave him a shy smile before he patted Ed on the shoulder and headed off to continue with the clean up. Things had been kind of awkward between them ever since Ed turned him down and this wasn’t exactly how Ed had ever planned an interaction between them to go.
Once Sam was out of earshot, Lucius excitedly punched Ed before he said, “Oh Ed, you should have seen it. Sam looked so hot diving into to save you. With those flexed biceps. I can’t believe you ever turned that man down.”
“I still can’t believe Blackbeard himself can’t swim,” Jim piped up next to them.
“Will you both shut up?” Ed said, grumpily, as he shifted uncomfortably in his soaked clothes. “There was something in there, guys. It looked like… I can’t even say it. But it just stared at me. With its eyes!”
“I think you’re just in shock, babes. From touching those muscles –”
“Okay, I’m leaving now. I feel like a wet dog,” Ed said, slightly annoyed. “And I know what I saw!”
Ed ignored the protests of his employees and made the short, soggy walk back to his house. He really wished the crew would stop trying to meddle with his love life, especially when it came to the teasing about him turning down Sam. Sam was probably one of the most handsome men Ed had ever met and five years ago Ed would have absolutely gone out with him and done unspeakable things to those muscles. But… that’s all Ed did back then. Casual sex, drunken sex, sober sex, sex that made him feel empty inside ( God knows there was enough of that with Jack) . Ed didn’t want that anymore. He mentally slapped himself anytime he tried pursuing someone based on looks or physicality alone. No more thinking with your dick, Ed.
He had plenty of sex but he wanted to make love with someone.
God, I sound ridiculous.
Speaking of ridiculous…
What the f*ck was in that pool?
Ed’s vision had been too blurred to properly make out the creature but it had a giant tail like a fish and a surprisingly human looking face, with hair on top of its head… Also, the humming? It sounded as beautiful as it did creepy.
The lack of oxygen from his near-drowning incident probably just played with his mind. However, there was something down there. Suddenly, Ed got the idea to come back to the pool after dark, when everything was closed, to try and lure out the creature. Afterall, this was his beach club.
I’m Blackbeard. I can do whatever the hell I want .
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
The beach had been pretty empty all day due to the crappy weather left behind from the storm. So, Ed didn’t have to wait long for the regulars to filter off the beach (the regulars are the only ones who come to sit on the beach regardless of the weather). Blackbeard’s closed everything due the fallout of the storm but just to be safe, Ed waited until it was late enough that he was sure that absolutely no one would be hanging around the pool area.
After many helpful but albeit ridiculous Google searches ( What do fish eat? What do eels eat? Can fish have human faces and orange hair?) Ed packed a small backpack and snuck out to the pool. Given that Buttons lived in the little hut right next to the pool and didn’t want to raise any suspicions with him (despite Buttons being the weirdest, most suspicious man he’s ever known), he hopped the gate in the stealthiest way he knew how.
Still got it .
Using the flashlight on his phone, Ed did a quick look around just to make sure no one was behind the pool gates and he could makeout where the edge of the pool was (so he didn’t accidentally fall in again). During the crew’s big clean up and after Ed’s accident, they put caution tape all around the outside of the pool. However, there was a smaller section of the pool without the tape where Ed could get closest to the water. Ed shrugged the backpack off his shoulder onto the ground where he was crouched, threw up his hair into a quick messy bun, and decided it was time to get to work.
He dug into his bag, taking out his “time to catch a fish/eel/humanoid creature” supplies: a container of live worms, a pack of sardines, a bag of fish sticks (yes, he brought fish sticks) and some gummy worms for himself. All this sneaking around made him snackish.
He grabbed a big handful of the warms, dumped them into the water, and waited. A minute went by and… nothing.
Damn it.
He moved onto the sardines next and dropped one into the water with a satisfying plop.
Still nothing.
Where are you?
As a last-ditch attempt, he dropped two of the fish sticks into the pool.
Ed’s knee started cramping up from the way he was crouched down.
“ f*ck, f*ck f*ck,” Ed said, clutching his knee as he maneuvered himself to sit down, stretching out his bad leg and accidentally knocking half of his bag of gummy worms into the water in the process.
“sh*t,” Ed sighed, as he looked into the water, “Where are you, you little f*cker? And what the hell are you?”
“I bet I know what it is,” said a voice, scaring the sh*t out of Ed.
Ed looked up and across the pool, half covered in shadows from the dim backlight of Button’s hut, he saw a man in the water. Only up to his chest was visible, his back lounging against the pale blue tile and he propped himself up by resting his elbows up and behind him on the edge of the pool.
In his right hand was one of Ed’s gummy worms, which he took a bite out of, as he made direct eye contact with Ed. Just as Ed was about to scream-whisper Hey mate what the hell are you doing in this pool , the man started swimming towards him and into the light, stopping right in front of Ed, who was still sitting down near the edge of the pool, one leg stretched out to massage his knee.
As he looked up at Ed, something, no not something, a giant fin , appeared out of the water in front of him and slowly waved back and forth.
“I’m guessing it was… a mermaid?” said the man(?) with a chipper, self-assured voice and a smirk plastered on his face.
“You’re… you’re a mermaid?” Ed said, dumbly, after many long moments left with his jaw wide open.
“Well, a merman, or mer-person , is a more accurate term for me, I suppose,” the merperson said.
Ed’s first thought was I should scream but he wasn’t scared, he was fascinated. As he looked down into the water below, shining in the light of his flashlight was a shimmering orange tail, with glimmering highlights of red and yellow, speckled with iridescent glitter. The giant fin connected to the tail looked a bit like Jeff the Goldfish’s own fins. As Ed’s eyes made his way up the merperson’s body, his gaze briefly landed on the merman’s lightly tanned chest and perfectly round nipples, which were lightly dusted with brownish-reddish hair.
Ed finally got a proper look at his face in this lighting and wow. He was gorgeous. He must have been about Ed's age. He had blonde, side-swept hair which even while damp Ed could tell had a curl to it. The tips of his hair were dyed the same deep orange as his tail. He had beautiful hazel eyes, with kind laugh-lines etched into the skin around them. When their eyes met, the merperson smiled at him, expectantly, and it was then that Ed realized he had been staring this entire time and hadn’t said anything.
“I see you were looking at my tail…”
“It’s kinda hard not to, mate,” Ed said, “It’s… sort of beautiful.”
At that, the merperson actually blushed, his face and chest turning a bit crimson at the compliment.
“Thank you! I’ve kind of always thought so, too.”
“Wait, ” Ed said, suddenly realizing he was having no problem communicating with this sea creature, “you speak English ?”
“Well, yes. Mermaids speak every language known to humans, fish, crustaceans, and several varieties of sea fowl! What can you speak?”
“Um… English. A bit of Māori.”
“Ah!” the merperson perked up in recognition, “ Kia ora!”
Ed laughed, impressed and in a bit of disbelief that he was actually talking to a merperson. “Yeah, kia ora , mate. You got a name?”
“I’m Stede”
“Ed”
As he reached out to shake Stede’s hand, he felt another twinge in his knee.
“God damn it .”
“Oh, are you hurt?” Stede asked, eyes filled with concern.
“Nah, not really. Got a bad knee and it’s acting up. It’s my fault for forgetting my brace.”
Suddenly, Stede reached his hand out above Ed’s knee, hovering in the air as he waited for Ed to look at him again. “May I?” Stede asked, softly.
Ed stared at him for a few long moments, confused. “Uh, sure. Go ahead, mate.”
Slowly and delicately, Stede wrapped his hand around Ed’s knee, just below the pant leg of his shorts, and closed his eyes. All of a sudden, Ed felt a relief of pain in his muscles so great that tears started forming in his eyes. Ed moaned lightly and closed his own eyes, leaning into the feeling of ecstasy.
When Ed opened his eyes, he was met with the sight of Stede, who looked up at him through bashful and curious eyes. “Better?”
“f*ck , mate. That felt incredible. How did you do that?”
“Oh, just a bit of mermaid magic. It’s nothing, really. You should see what magic my dad can do. Especially with waves! That storm last night was him, actually.”
“Your dad made those waves?”
“Yeah. It’s all my fault, really. He’s furious because I swam away from home three days before I was supposed to marry someone he chose for me,” Stede said, looking ashamed.
“sh*t, were they that bad?”
“Oh, no. She’s perfectly lovely! I just… I don’t love her. Arranged marriages are a tradition in our culture but I always dreamed of marrying someone for love. I probably sound like a fool.”
“Definitely don’t sound like a fool. I think you sound brave.”
Stede huffed out a breath, clearly touched by the suggestion. “Thank you, Ed.”
Suddenly, Ed heard the sound of Buttons making his way out of his shack. Ed really did not want to get into any conversation with him right now and he selfishly wanted to keep Stede a secret to himself.
“ f*ck, okay I really need to go. And you need to hide,” Ed whispered loudly, as he zippered up his bag and threw it back on his shoulder.
“Wait! Please don’t leave!”
“I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Ed said. As he turned to run off, he felt Stede’s hand on his arm, pulling him back.
“Promise?” Stede asked, with a pointed look.
“Promise!”
Ed somehow managed to jump the gates and make it back to his house without being seen by Buttons.
As he got back inside, he made his way up the stairs to his bedroom, and plopped down on the bed next to Kraken, who was fast asleep.
“You wouldn't believe the night I had, Kraken.”
He gave her black fur a few gentle rubs before he drifted off to sleep, with dreams of mermaids with golden hair and kind smiles.
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
The next morning, the sun finally broke through the clouds and filtered into the room. Ed slowly roused from a deep sleep and took a big stretch of all his limbs, not dissimilar to how he’d seen Kraken stretch after a mid-afternoon nap. Usually, every morning when Ed woke up, he had to spend a few minutes massaging his knee, as it always caused him pain after a long night of rest. But, he realized his knee didn’t hurt at all . Stede didn’t just relieve his pain in the moment last, he must have healed his knee completely.
Stede .
sh*t, did he really meet a mermaid yesterday, a handsome mermaid, who healed his knee?
A loud noise suddenly interrupted Ed’s thoughts. Ed made his way out to his balcony to see what it was and–
Oh f*ck.
The noise was Buttons and Wee John draining pool. Just like he told them to do yesterday.
“sh*t sh*t sh*t ” Ed said as he threw a black oversized flannel on and frantically ran around his room looking for his sandals. He continued to spout expletives the entire time he ran downstairs and outside his house to the pool area.
“Stop! Guys, stop!” Ed shouted, as he approached Buttons and John by the pool. John held a giant orange hose steady as the water continued to drain out of the pool.
“Boss? Everything ok?” Wee John asked, confused.
“You– You can’t drain the pool there’s something–”
As Ed looked down into the pool below, he noticed the pool was almost completely drained and all that remained was the seaweed and debris from before. No Stede .
“Capt’n?”
Ed looked up and Buttons stared at him, curiously.
“Uh… never mind guys. I guess I got confused–”
Ed was interrupted by a sound coming from the pool & games supply shack. The closed blue double-doors started shaking, as if someone was inside pushing against them.
Stede .
“Keep up the good work guys,” Ed said, absentmindedly as he ran off towards the shack.
When he opened the doors and entered the shack, out of nowhere came Stede, naked and about to whack him in the face with a tennis racket. They both screamed at each other.
“Jesus Christ, Stede! You scared the sh*t out of me.”
“Oh, Ed! I’m so sorry! But am I glad to see you! That… thing out there just about turned me inside out!”
“How the hell did you get in here, mate?”
“Oh, I used these!” Stede exclaimed, his frightened expression turned to excitement as he bent his leg and picked up one of his feet in his hands. “My very own pair!– Ah ”
Stede, losing his balance, fell completely backwards onto his ( very naked ) ass.
“f*cking hell, let me help you.”
Ed leaned down and reached out a hand to pull Stede up with. Stede grabbed on and, after some stumbling like a baby deer, found his footing.
“Thanks! Oh and Ed, look! I also have this! Isn’t it cute?” Stede said, as he turned around and excitedly pointed to his wonderfully shapely butt.
Lord, give me strength.
“Yes, very cute, Stede.”
“And I can sit on it!”
It was then that Ed immediately regretted his words and wished Stede wanted to focus more on his ass again because when Stede turned around, Ed was met with a thick, perfect co*ck hanging between his legs. Ed thought he was going to have a stroke with how hard he tried to focus on Stede’s face and not back down at Stede's dick.
No thinking with your dick, Teach .
“Listen, mate. We gotta get you out of here,” Ed said, shaking himself out of his dickmatized trance.
Stede nodded and headed towards the doors.
“Wait!” Ed stopped him, with a hand on his elbow, “Not like that. This unfortunately isn’t a nude beach. Here, take this.” Ed removed his arms from the oversized flannel around him and began to button it up so Stede could throw it over himself.
After some struggle, they both finally managed to maneuver the buttoned shirt over Stede’s head. Ed rolled up the sleeves of the flannel, revealing his brilliant forearms, before taking a step back. It was a bit tighter on Stede than it was on Ed but luckily it was long enough that Stede wouldn’t be walking out of here with his dick out. It did, however, put Stede’s incredibly toned legs on display.
f*ck me .
“How do I look?” Stede asked, excited.
“Distracting… ” Ed said, under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing… It’s good enough until we can get back to my house.”
Luckily, they managed to get back to Ed’s without bumping into anyone who would ask any questions about who this strange man was wearing only Ed’s flannel.
“Make yourself at home,” Ed said as he opened the door to let Stede into the house.
“It’s lovely, Ed. Oh! Who is she ?”
Kraken appeared and wrapped herself around Stede’s legs, nuzzling against him.
“That’s Kraken, she usually hates strangers but you must be special.”
“Aren’t you just the most beautiful thing?” Stede said, as he crouched down to lovingly pet Kraken. Ed gestured for Stede to follow him to the couch and Kraken followed as well.
Stede situated himself on the couch and bounced and kicked his legs excitedly like a child.
“I love legs!”
“So.. Do you get to keep them?”
“Technically, we’re only supposed to have them when the sun’s out. And we have to keep them dry. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never had the guts to come out and try them!” Stede was adorably excited.
“Is this your first time ashore?”
“First time ashore, first time with legs! Can you believe it?”
“You would never know!” Ed teased.
“But, I have to be careful. Add even a little bit of water and boom . Instant tail.”
It was then that a medium sized shell Stede had carried with him as they walked over to Ed’s house, started to glow and vibrate on the coffee table in front of them, emitting a muffled ringing noise. Ed and Stede both turned their heads to look at it.
“Stede… Why is that shell ringing?”
“Ugh,” Stede groaned, as he fell backwards onto the couch, “They found me.”
“With a shell?” Ed asked, unconvinced.
“Did you know you can hear the ocean in these?” Stede asked, as he leaned over to pick up the shell and held it up to his ear. “Well, it works both ways. The ocean can hear you too”
“Hello? Father?” Stede asked, shrinking in on himself as he answered the shell like a phone.”
A deep, loud, booming voice rumbled through the phone, yelling Stede’s name.
Shell phone. f*cking mental .
“Would you mind giving me a minute, Ed?” Stede whispered, apologetically.
“Yeah, of course. Take your time, mate.”
Ed made his way onto his back porch, facing the beach, as Stede argued with his dad.
“Father, I told you I don’t want to marry someone I do not love!”
“Well you can make all the storms you want. I’m not coming back. And I mean it this time!”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, dark gray clouds flooded the sky and thunder clapped around him. A strong wind appeared, blowing through his silver locks.
sh*t. Stede’s dad is doing this?
“No, love is not a myth, Father! I can prove it to you! ”
“Well, if I’m wrong then I will honor your plans. I promise!”
Ed looked back as Stede slammed the shell phone onto the table with a frustrated groan. As soon as he hung up, the gray clouds disappeared, the wind came to a stop, and the sky was perfectly clear and blue, with the sun shining through.
Stede stormed out onto the porch to join Ed.
“I have to find love! We don’t have it where I’m from and if I can’t find it in three days, I’m sunk!”
“I know you said you have arranged marriages but you don’t have love? Like at all?”
“No! My father thinks it’s just a myth and that I have bubbles in my brain because I believe in love. He’s already so disappointed in me because of… well, every other aspect of myself. I need to prove this to him. And, he says the only way I can get out of my wedding is if I prove to him that love exists. Or else I’m swimming down the aisle with someone I don’t even know!”
“If you don’t have love where you’re from, then how do you know that it exists?”
“I saw it once! And I want it. Ooo. With him!” Stede said, as he spotted someone on the beach and pointed out at the water.
Ed turned his head to follow the directions of where Stede pointed and–
f*ck, me .
Of course, Stede had taken interest in the most perfect example of the male human specimen: Sam. There he was, a storybook prince incarnate, shirtless and looking incredible. He must have just gotten out of the water, probably to save someone who was pretending to drown (that happened far too often it became a problem), the salt water glistening on his skin as he sauntered back over to his lifeguard chair.
Out of every guy on this f*cking beach, why did it have to be him?
Stede started at Sam from afar curiously and hungrily.
“Who is that man?” Stede asked, intrigued.
“Oh, Sam?” Ed asked, disinterested.
“ Sam” Stede said, dreamily, testing the sound of his name on his tongue.
“Yeah, he’s alright. I guess. If you like, muscly men or whatever.” Ed said, pretending to be casual.
Suddenly, Stede ran off the back porch and onto the beach in Sam’s direction.
“sh*t, Stede! Wait!”
Ed ran off towards Stede, as he watched Stede approach Sam, yelling his name.
Ed was slightly horrified but stood close enough to hear the interaction.
“Hi Sam!” Stede said, with a bright smile.
“Hi?” Sam said, confused but polite as he looked down from the lifeguard’s chair.
“Do you love me?”
f*cking hell.
“Um.. no? I think you’re very handsome, though!”
There was some screaming coming from the water and Sam politely excused himself to check it out. Stede, looking dejected, slowly turned around and walked straight past Ed.
“Hey, hey. Hold up, mate” Ed said as he turned to follow Stede.
Stede looked like he was walking right back to Ed’s porch but stopped midway, causing Ed to run into him.
“He doesn’t love me? How could he not love me?”
‘Listen, Stede. It’s not that simple–”
“You have to help me get him to fall in love with me!”
“Uh… yeah. I don’t know about that, mate. Everyone on this beach is after Sam.”
“So, you know him?”
“I mean, he’s my employee. And we’ve hung out a few times. Hes…”
Stede started at Ed, hanging on his every word.
The thing is, Ed had no reason not to help Sam fall in love with Stede. Ed had professionally turned Sam down multiple times and while things were a bit awkward between them (and Sam continued to pretend he wasn’t flirting with Ed every time), he was a great guy. He was sweet, he helped around the neighborhood, worked overtime to help out the staff, and Ed was pretty sure half of their beachgoers only came because of Sam. Ed didn’t even have feelings for Sam like that, at least not as much as he did in the past.
Also, Ed had no claim on Stede. Did he think Stede was insanely hot in an insanely distracting way? Did he want to rub himself against Stede’s incredible thighs until he came in his pants like a teenager? Absolutely. But, it was selfish to keep Stede from finding true love just because Ed was thinking with his dick again. And sure, Ed had enjoyed the fact that this mythical, beautiful mermaid had appeared in his life but he was a little worried at the idea of Stede being introduced to anyone else. He also didn’t want to see sweet, naive Stede get his heart broken.
f*ck it .
“He’s great, Stede. One of the best guys you’ll find in Baybridge.”
“Oh, I bet he’s lovely. So, you’ll help me?” Stede asked, excitedly, giving Ed a puppy-dog look, which he wasn’t even sure Stede was aware of.
“Yeah. I guess I will.”
‘Oh, Ed. Thank you!” Stede said, jumping to give Ed a hug. “Also, I forgot to mention that when you help a mermaid, you get a wish.”
Well, now. Hold on.
“A wish?”
“Yeah! Any wish you could wish for!”
A wish could be beneficial in getting his beachside inn up and running. It’s a massive undertaking and some mermaid magic might be just what he needed to get a jump on it…
“But… Sam has to say he loves me within three days or no wish.”
“Well,” Ed said, “Let’s go do this, then.”
“Woo-hoo!”
“But first, we need to get you real clothes. And underwear.”
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
Since Ed’s clothes were a bit tighter than what Stede needed, Ed decided the best option was to head to the local mall and buy new ones.
In the meantime, Ed let Stede borrow a pair of dark navy linen shorts with a stretchy elastic waistband and a red, floral button down, adorned with birds that he purchased when he first came to Baybridge, in an attempt to wear something other than black. With a pair of Ed’s borrowed aviators, Stede looked unfairly handsome in everyday beach fashion. The salt air had blown his hair into the perfect mess of curls that Ed ached to reach out and grab hold of–
Focus, Teach.
Before they headed out on their shopping adventure, Ed took a deep breath and texted Sam. He made up some story about how his old friend from college was in town for a few days (Yeah, he was the really awkward one that asked if you loved him? He’s a little weird around new people but he’s really great once you get to know him and he thought you were hot. Maybe give him a chance? ) and asked Sam if he wanted to meet up at the mall in a few hours. Sam would not be able to say no to a date with Stede once he saw him dressed in normal people’s clothes.
When they entered the mall, Stede was like a kid in a candy store, fascinated by everything and anything he saw. Except for the escalator, that just confused him. They visited every store and Stede, very thoroughly, looked through every rack the store had to offer.
What Ed noticed during their shopping spree, Stede loved clothes. On the ride over here, Stede mentioned that his favorite thing about being able to swim the seven seas and visit places all over the world was the fashion. He was intrigued by fashion and fine fabrics. In every store, Stede picked out the loudest and boldest prints. He looked at every flowy and ruffled shirt he could find. Every time he found a new piece he would like, his face lit up and he turned to tell Ed what exactly made the design so unique. Ed could have spent every day just like this following Stede around like a dog as he picked out clothes and he would be happy.
When it came to trying on clothes, that’s when Ed really began to struggle. Stede looked fantastic in every single thing he tried on, even when those clothes looked ridiculous on the hanger. They sorted out Stede’s size after a couple of trial runs. For a few attempts, Stede had tried on shirts that were way too tight but clung to his chest and biceps in a way that should have been illegal. Ed complimented every piece that Stede tried on and was rewarded with that wonderful blush he saw the first time they met. They ended up buying Stede casual clothes, semi-formal clothes, and something fancy for the Last Splash. It was probably way too much for three-days but both of them got so caught up in the fun of trying things together that it didn’t even matter. Ed had such a great time he almost completely forgot they were doing all this to meet up with Sam and hopefully get him to fall for Stede.
After working up an appetite from all the shopping, they stopped in the food court to eat. Watching Stede eat human food for the first time was… challenging. They got a large order of cheese fries to share and on the first bite, Stede closed his eyes, leaned his head back and honest to god moaned.
“Ed, this is incredible. I never want to eat anything else again.”
“Just wait til you try chocolate, mate. It will blow your mind.”
Every bite following the first was met with a similar moan. One of the fries was particularly coated in cheese and after a few bites, Stede licked the leftover cheese from his fingers in an agonizingly sexy way.
I swear he’s doing this on purpose .
Ed had to adjust in his seat a few times and cross his legs. Yes, he was turned on from Stede eating f*cking cheese fries. He could never eat these again without getting horny.
Behind Stede, through the crowd of shoppers, Ed spotted Sam making his way over to them. Ed awkwardly smiled and waved him over.
“Hey guys!”
“Hey, Sam.”
“Hi, Sam!” Stede said, excited.
“Sam, you’ve already met but let me officially introduce you. Sam, this is Stede. Stede, Sam.”
“Nice to meet you properly, Stede,” Sam said, in his obnoxiously charming voice.
“Nice to meet you too! I apologize for earlier, I don’t know what came over me–”
“No, don’t apologize. I thought it was bold. I liked it.” Sam said, smirking.
Oh please . Was his flirting always this cheesy with Ed?
“Oh,” Stede said, a bit speechless. “Well, thank you.”
Ed was so totally not jealous that Stede’s blush was because of Sam and not him this time.
“I’m surprised you called, Ed,” Sam said as he turned towards him. “But without your call, I wouldn’t be able to properly ask Stede here out on a date.”
I’m not jealous. I agreed to help Stede with this.
“Of course!” Ed said, in a false cheery tone.
“Stede, would you come to dinner with me tonight? I know this great seafood place nearby–
“NO SEAFOOD,” Ed screamed, surprising himself with how loudly that came out.
“Sorry,” Ed chuckled nervously. “He’s just like. Really allergic to seafood.”
“Oh, no worries. Italian it is then. Mind if I steal you away, Stede?”
Stede looked at Ed nervously. His expression was full of excitement but also made it clear that he cared deeply about not being rude and leaving Ed alone.
“Go have fun, mate.” Ed said, patting Stede’s shoulder.
“Thank you ,” Stede mouthed silently. “I’ll see you back at the house, Ed.”
Sam looped his arm with Stede’s and as they walked away he heard Stede say, “ Does this restaurant have cheese fries?”
Ed chucked to himself. As he looked around their table, full of Stede and Ed’s (mostly Stede’s) shopping bags and the abandoned container of cheese fries, Ed let out a deep sigh.
f*ck. I’m jealous.
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
Later that evening, Ed sat on his couch with Kraken in his lap, eating ice cream and absolutely not moping about Stede being out on a date with Sam. Ed totally wasn’t thinking about Stede’s sunshine smile, or those little lines around his eyes when he laughed at Ed’s jokes, or the fact this afternoon with Stede was the most fun he’d had in ages. It didn’t help that he was so fit and handsome that Ed ached to kiss him so many times this afternoon.
It’s just a crush. A silly infatuation. Stede is much better off with Sam anyway. The Lifeguard & The Mermaid.
Jolting Ed out of his misery, Ed’s phone rang on the coffee table. The number was unrecognizable to Ed but he answered anyway.
“Hello?”
“ED!”
“Stede? What number are you calling from?”
“My shell phone, remember?”
“The shell phone can call normal phones?”
“Yeah, of course. . Mermaid magic!”
“Right. Mermaid magic. How could I forget? Hey, are you okay?” Ed asked, concerned at the tone in Stede’s voice.
“Oh, right. No! I forgot all about the sunset!”
Ed looked at the window and saw just how low the sun was in the sky.
sh*t. No legs after sunset.
“f*ck, okay. Where are you right now?”
“In the bathroom at the restaurant. I really need to get out of here! Is there a body of water nearby?”
“Um… yeah, Stede. The ocean.”
“No! Not the ocean. My father would just manipulate the tide and pull me back home.”
“I think I have an idea… Listen, get out of the restaurant and I’ll be there to pick you up as soon as I can.”
“Oh, thank you, Ed. Please hurry!”
Ed never moved so quickly in his life. He hopped on his bike, knowing it would get him to the restaurant faster. As Ed pulled up, Stede was outside the restaurant, hiding in a bush.
“Stede!” Ed called out to him.
“Ed!” Stede’s entire face lit up as he ran out towards Ed. ‘What is this machine?”
“My motorcycle,” Ed laughed, fondly. “I thought it would get us to the water tower faster.”
“A water tower! Brilliant!”
“Yep. I’m a genius. Now hop on, mate.”
Stede, after some struggle, managed to get on the bike without falling. He wrapped his arms tightly around Ed’s waist. As they made the short drive to the water tower, Ed tried not to drive off the road when he felt Stede’s breath tickle his neck, his skin erupting in goosebumps as Stede nuzzled into him.
God, he fits perfectly there.
Luckily, the ride to the water tower didn’t last long.
“Oh, gosh. That’s quite high up,” Stede said, looking a bit queasy.
“What? You're scared of heights, mate?”
“Not scared, per se. Just unfamiliar with water that high off the ground. I’ve also never been on a ladder before.”
“Don’t worry,” Ed said, gently grabbing Stede’s shoulder. “I’ll be right behind you. And I won’t let you fall.”
Stede smiled at him, so sweetly. “Thank you, Ed.”
“Just don’t look down.”
They cautiously made their way up the old, half-rusted ladder. Ed kept his hand on the small of Stede’s back the entire time. When they reached the top, Ed unhooked the chain that blocked the walkable ledge around the giant water tank. Ed turned the giant lever which unlocked the giant metal door.
“This good enough for you?”
“Oh, yes! This should work perfectly.”
Stede began to strip out of Ed’s clothes and Ed tried to look everywhere else but Stede’s body. Stede carefully folded each item of Ed’s clothes before handing them over in a neat pile. Stede, gloriously naked Stede, dove into the water and the water started to glow and simmer around him, just like when Ed fell in the pool yesterday. Stede’s shimmering orange tail suddenly became visible under the water as he breached the surface.
“I almost forgot about the tail,” Ed chuckled.
“You know, so did I!”
Ed sat down near the door to the tank, looking down at Stede in the water. Stede swam up to the door near Ed, resting his elbows on the bottom of the door frame.
“Thanks for coming to my rescue, Ed,” Stede said, warmly.
“Of course, mate. How did the date go? Sam didn’t try anything funny, did he?” Ed teased.
“Oh, no. He was perfectly lovely,” Stede said, sounding disappointed.
“Wow. You sound thrilled. Did he say something to upset you?”
“No, not at all! It’s just… I’ve seen love before. I saw this couple once on this little blue boat and the way they looked at each other was just… magical . I don’t know what love feels like but… I assume you’re supposed to feel it, right? I don’t think I felt anything with Sam.”
“Look,” Ed sighed, “I’ve never been in love before so I don’t know what it feels like either. And I know you have a deadline but I don’t think it happens after one date.”
“Ugh. If I don’t feel anything then Sam definitely doesn’t. I only have two more days Ed. I don’t want to go back home. I don’t fit in there. And I know I can prove to my dad love exists somehow!”
The last thing Ed wanted was to lose Stede after just finding him. Stede deserved true love and to marry whoever he wanted. Stede deserved everything .
“Stede,” Ed said, placing his hand on Stede’s forearm. “I don’t know how but I will figure something out in the next two days. I won’t let your father bring you back home.”
I won’t let him take you away from me.
Ed had no idea how he was going to achieve that but he made a promise to himself, and to Stede.
“Oh, Ed. I think you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. We are friends, right?” Stede asked, nervously.
Friends. Right.
“Of course we’re friends, Stede.”
They stared at each other, smiling sweetly for a long time.
Kiss him. Kiss him. Kiss him.
“Thank you for all your help again today, Ed. Sam said he wanted to see me again tomorrow. Do you think that means there’s still a chance he could love me?”
Sam . He promised to help make Sam fall in love with him.
“He’d be crazy if he didn’t, mate. But we can do a little practice run before you see him tomorrow."
"I don't deserve you, Ed.Oh-my finger scales! They change color with my mood but they've never been this color before!"
Stede's silver painted nails suddenly turned a light purple.
Purple. For love. Of course. They were talking about Sam and love. He must love Sam.
"I think you feel something for Sam after all. Pretty sure that color means love, mate.
"Oh! Maybe I do!" Stede said, excited.
"I should probably head home though. I’ll come pick you up here tomorrow. With clean clothes.”
“You’re the best, Ed. I’m so happy you found me in that pool.”
“Yeah,” Ed smiled, a bit sadly. “Me too, mate. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Edward.”
Ed made his way back down the ladder and headed towards his bike. On the drive home, he tried not to notice how cold he felt without Stede’s body weight against him.
Once he was in for the night, all ready for bed, Ed started thinking about what Stede said. About what love feels like. Ed’s never been in love with any of his past partners, they were way too sh*tty to him for Ed to ever be truly in love, but that never stopped him from staying in those relationships for longer than he should have. Ed was half convinced love was some bullsh*t people made up but that never meant Ed didn’t want it. He ached to find it all throughout his life almost as badly as Stede did right now. Love was a mystery to Ed but he knew he had to help Stede find it. He couldn’t let Stede go back to that miserable life back home. And anyway, how could Sam not love Stede? He’d be a fool not to.
Gorgeous, sweet, magical, amazing perfect Stede.
Yep . Still not jealous .
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
Ed came by early in the morning to pick up Stede, with one of the outfits Stede picked out yesterday, just like he said he would. Stede picked out this matching baby blue button up and shorts set and f*ck it was working for him. Ed dropped Stede back off at his house for a bit because he had to take care of some things at work. Ed worried about leaving Stede alone but Stede seemed perfectly content to curl up with Kraken in Ed’s bed. God , the idea of Stede at home in Ed’s bed waiting for him to come home excited Ed far more than it should have.
After doing what Ed considered to be enough work for the boss to be doing for the day, he headed back down the boardwalk towards his house. On the way there, he ran into Lucius.
“Hey, babes. Didn’t see you all day yesterday. Where have you been?”
“Oh, you know. Around. A friend from college is visiting me for a few days so I’ve been showing him around.”
“A friend? I’ve never heard you mention a friend before–”
“ Ed!”
As if on cue, Stede came walking towards them, a vision in his blue outfit and a halo of sunshine behind him.
“Hey, mate. Everything okay? I thought I was meeting you back at the house.”
“Oh, no. Everything’s fine. I just missed you! Thought I’d meet you here and maybe we could go find some more cheese fries!”
“Well, hello . Who are you?” Lucius said, far too flirty for Ed’s liking.
“Lucius, this is Stede. The friend from college I was telling you about.”
“Hello! Lovely to meet you!” Stede said as he reached out to shake Lucius’ hand.
“Likewise,” Lucius said, with a devious smile. “Ed, how come you’ve never brought him around before?
“You know… Life… Listen, we gotta head out. Stede, why don’t you go wait on line at the Snack Shack and order some cheese fries. I’ll meet you there.” Ed reached in his pocket to hand Stede some money and absolutely did not linger when their hands touched.
“Okay! Have a nice day Lucius!”
Stede walked off towards the line and Ed watched him walk away with a smile. When Ed turned back at Lucius, he looked at Ed with an amused smile.
“So… he’s nice. And incredibly handsome.”
“Bye, Lucius!” Ed walked off dismissively.
On his way to meet Stede in line, he was stopped yet again, but this time by Sam.
f*cking perfect .
“Hey, boss,” Sam said, in his signature flirty tone.
“Hey, Sam. I was just going to meet Stede over there. Let me get him for you–”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh? Okay. What’s up, man?”
“Listen, last night with Stede was… fun. But, I couldn’t help but notice a bit of jealousy when I asked him out in front of you.”
“What?” Ed asked, laughing it off. “Nah, I wasn’t jealous. Why would I be jealous?”
“Well, I’m embarrassed to say this but… That’s kind of the only reason I asked Stede out in the first place. And when I saw how jealous you looked I had a bit of hope that maybe you were reconsidering turning me down so many times. Listen, I know you’re my boss but I just think we could have a really great time together, Ed. We’d look great together too.”
“Man, what the f*ck–”
“Sam?”
Ed turned to see Stede standing behind them, looking absolutely dejected.
“You never liked me?”
Ed had to resist from punching Sam right in the face for making Stede’s voice sound so small.
“Stede–”
“ God, I’m so stupid!”
Stede ran off down the boardwalk, dropping their carton of cheese fries onto the wood panels.
“Stede, wait!” Ed yelled after him. “That was a dick move, Sam. And for the record, I was jealous. But I was never jealous of Stede.”
Without a look back, Ed ran off in search of Stede. Ed checked every place he could think of but didn’t seem to be anywhere on the boardwalk. Ed ran up and down the beach, looking through the crowd of umbrellas and tents in hopes he’d find Stede. Down the beach, further away from all the crowds of people, he spotted a blonde head of hair, standing back, waiting for the waves to wash up and meet him.
Oh, no. f*ck, he’s gonna let his dad bring him back home .
Ed never ran so fast in his life. He jumped over beach chairs and knocked down a few sandcastles in the process but he made it to Stede in record time.
“Stede! Don’t do it! Please don’t do it!”
Ed practically barreled into Stede, pushing him far enough away where the water wouldn’t touch him.
“Ed, stop! It’s over! Sam never liked me. He just wanted to make you jealous.”
“Stede, I swear I had no idea–”
“Oh, Ed. I don’t blame you. I blame myself. My father was right. Love is a myth. And even if love is real, I don’t think it’s meant for me.”
“Stede,” Ed said as he grabbed Stede’s shoulder. “Love is real, man. I’ve never experienced it but it’s all around us. I see it in my crew. And it’s beautiful. And Sam’s a dick. You deserve someone who adores you, Stede.”
“Ed. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But there’s no way I’m going to prove that love exists to my father in just three days. I was a fool to even think so! I have to suck it up and just go back home and marry someone who I’ll never love. It’s how things have to be.”
“Stede, no. Please. We’ll figure something out. You shouldn’t have to be miserable.”
“Ed, please just let it go,” Stede said, wiping away the tears that dripped down his face. “Oh my god. What’s happening to me? I’m leaking! I’m falling apart.”
“Stede, you’re not falling apart. You’re crying. Your body makes tears when you’re sad. I guess you wouldn’t know about that, living under water.”
“Humans are so weird,” Stede said, crying more.
“Hey,” Ed said, bringing a hand to Stede’s cheek to wipe away the flowing tears. “You still have today and tomorrow here on land, right? How about we just hang out and have some fun before you go back home, if you still want to. We can forget all about Sam, and love, and just live . That sound good?”
“Oh, Ed. That sounds wonderful. I would love that. Ugh, I didn’t know you leak when you’re happy too!”
“It takes some getting used to,” Ed laughed. “Come on, man. I wanna spend as much time with you as I can before you abandon me.”
Ed threw an arm around Stede’s shoulder and they walked like that all the way back down the beach together.
𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼𓇼
For their second to last day together, Ed decided he should introduce Stede to the wonders of a carnival. If Stede was in awe of everything he saw in the mall, he could just imagine how he would react to the carnival.
Every year, one of the local churches put on a big carnival during the last week of the summer season. It was a fun, family friendly event with carnival games, rides, and incredible carnival food. It was a really popular date spot and even though this wasn’t technically a date, it wouldn’t hurt anyone if Ed pretended that it was. Besides, Stede was leaving in a day. Ed was allowed to be selfish just this once.
When they arrived, Stede seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the people packed together in one space. Stede linked his arm with Ed’s as if it was a natural instinct and stayed like that the whole evening.
The games caught Stede’s eyes first.
“Ed! Can we try this?”
They played a water gun game and game where you threw a ball at some furry looking animal thing. Stede lost every time but still seemed to be having the time of his regardless.
Ed saw a game across from where they were and noticed one of the prizes was an adorable stuffed dolphin and Ed immediately knew had to try and win it for Stede.
“Stede, come here. I wanna try this one.”
The game turned out to be one where you had to shoot a gun at a target and Ed smirked at himself. Now this one he knew he could do in one.
“You’ve got this Ed!” Stede adorably off to the side.
After handing money to the guy running the game, Ed slowly lifted the gun to the perfect position. He squinted a bit to make sure he knew exactly where he was aiming. He slowly pressed the trigger and…
BAM ! Bullzeye.
“Ed! That was incredible!”
“sh*t. You can have any prize you want, man,” said the game attendant.
“What prize are you gonna pick, Ed?”
“I’ll take the stuffed dolphin, please. Here, mate. Won this for you,” Ed said, turning to hand the plushie to Stede.
“You won this for me?”
“Yeah, of course. Reminded me of you.”
Stede looked touched and Ed was rewarded with the warmest smile Stede had ever given him.
“Thank you, Ed. He’s perfect.”
Stede tucked the dolphin plushie against him and held it like it was something precious.
Stede noticed the area with the carnival food and ran off towards it, tugging Ed along after him. Stede was fascinated by the cotton candy and his face lit up in surprise when it vanished on his tongue. If watching Stede eat cheese fries made him stiff, introducing Stede to funnel cake was about to be his downfall. The moaning returned with a vengeance but the leftover powdered sugar all over Stede’s face was adorable that his heart ached instead of his dick this time.
“Stede,” Ed laughed. “You’ve got some sugar on your nose.”
“Oh! Did I get it?” Stede asked, missing it completely.
“No, here let me.”
Ed leaned in and wiped the powdered sugar off of Stede’s nose with his thumb and index finger. Ed went to wipe his fingers on a napkin but Stede beat him to it and stuck his tongue out, licking and sucking the sugar off Ed’s thumb. He made eye contact with Ed the entire time.
f*ck. f*ck. f*ck. This man– mermaid is going to be the death of me.
“Sorry, didn’t want to waste any,” Stede said, sheepishly.
“No bother,” Ed said, in a near whisper. “I.. I’m just gonna go get more napkins. I’ll be right back.”
Ed hoped Stede, or anyone else around them, didn't notice the way he quickly palmed himself when he stood up.
As Ed made his way back to the stand with the napkins, he heard Lucius and Pete calling out to him.
“Hey boss!”
“Hey, guys. What’s up?”
“So, you look pretty cozy with your friend over there,” Lucius said as he lowered his sunglasses on his nose to give Ed a pointed look.
“ Babe, I thought you were gonna lead up to that?” Pete whispered next to him.
“Yeah, I’m far too nosy for that.”
“I told you. He’s just a friend from college, Lucius”
He’s just a friend.
“Hmm. Interesting. Archie told me that she and Jim saw you two clinging to each other the moment you got here.”
“ Jesus Christ. Do any of you ever actually work or do you just gossip?”
“We’re incredible multi-taskers,” Lucius said. “Listen, babes. We just want you to be happy. That’s all. You shouldn’t be denying yourself anything because of that weird self-sabotage bullsh*t that you do”
“ What? I don’t do any self-sabotage bullsh*t.”
“Oh, honey. I love you but yes you do. You find something or someone that makes you happy, or could possibly make you happy, and you avoid it or run away from it before it has a chance to disappoint you.”
sh*t. That’s exactly what he does.
“ f*cking hell . Look. Yes, I’m very into Stede. But he’s leaving in like a day and just because I love him doesn’t mean that I should ruin our friendship because of it.”
“ Oh my God! Ed!” Lucius and Pete’s expressions brightened up considerably and they looked down right giddy.
“What?” Ed said, confused. Then, it dawned on Ed what he had just admitted. He said he loved Stede. “ f*ck , wait. I didn’t mean–”
“You love him? Like you’re in love with Stede?”
“No. Yes. f*ck– I don’t know! Okay?”
“You don’t know?” Pete asked.
“No. I… I’ve never been in love before okay. I don’t know what that sh*t feels like.”
“Oh, babes. It feels easy. Just like breathing,” Lucius said, as he turned to Pete. “He understands my idiosyncrasies. Finds them charming, even. And we laugh a lot. We just…pass the time so well. I’d call those things love. Wouldn’t you, babe?”
“Absolutely, babe,” Pete said as he leaned in to press a kiss to Lucius’ cheek.
f*ck. Did he love Stede? Did he really somehow manage to fall in love with Stede in a matter of two days?
As he turned to look back at Stede, their eyes met and Stede’s entire demeanor brightened. Ed suddenly felt light headed.
“Just don’t ruin your chance at happiness, Ed.”
Ed turned back to Lucius and Pete, smiling nervously.
“Thanks, guys.”
Ed straightened his shoulders and walked back over to their table.
“Hey, Stede. Wanna go on the ferris wheel with me?”
“Oh, yes! I’d love that!”
As they walked over to the line for the ferris wheel, Ed decided to be brave and slipped his hand into Stede’s. Stede looked surprised at first but then just smiled at Ed and gave his hand a pointed squeeze.
f*ck. I love him. I love him so much.
The ride attendant opened the door to their seat on the ferris wheel and they piled in next to each other. Stede’s hand remained clasped in his and Stede rested his head on Ed’s shoulder as they ascended into the sky. Ed rested his head against Stede and closed his eyes, feeling more peaceful than he’d felt in a very long time.
It feels easy. Just like breathing.
They sat in blissful silence like that, just nuzzled against each other as their car came to a stop at the very top of the ferris wheel.
“Ed!” Stede screamed, breaking Ed out of their comfortable silence. “The sun!”
There was a beautiful view of the sunset above the trees in front of them. The sun was much lower than Ed had realized.
“sh*t…”
Dickf*ck. I have to tell him I love him. And I have to do it now.
Ed didn’t want this wonderful evening to end.
“Stede…”
“Ed! We have to get down!”
“Stede! Can you calm down for a second? I need to talk to you.”
“Can you tell me later, Ed? I need to get back to the water tower!”
“No, Stede. I’m gonna say this real quick, okay?”
Ed turned to grab both of Stede’s hands in his.
“Remember when I said I’d never been in love before? Well, I’m an idiot. Because I’ve been in love with you this entire time.”
“What–”
“And I’m not just saying this to prove it to your dad, alright? I’m in love with you, Stede. I love you. I love you .”
Stede was shocked into silence for a longer time than Ed’s heart could handle.
“Oh. Ed. Is this feeling I’ve had around you been love this entire time? The throbbing in my chest? The pain in my face from smiling so much? Because if that’s it, then I love you too, Ed. I love you so much.”
Ed grabbed Stede’s face in both of his hands and surged forward to kiss him like he’d wanted to do this whole time.
Stede’s lips felt cold, probably a mermaid thing, but they warmed the longer they pressed to Ed’s. Stede opened his mouth slightly and Ed slipped his tongue inside, swallowing the small gasp that escaped Stede. Kissing Stede felt like magic . There was no other way to describe it. The way it lit up every nerve in Ed’s body, made his lips feel numb. Ed felt Stede’s hand grab his neck and slide into his hair, slightly tugging on his curls. Ed’s quiet moan broke the kiss as they rested their foreheads together to catch their breath.
“I really love you, Ed.”
“I love you too, Stede. And I would love to use my wish to ask you to stay here with me. If you want to.”
“Of course I want to. I want to spend forever here with you if you’ll let me.”
They melted into each other with another kiss and Ed felt a drop on his cheek. He thought it was from him or Stede, considering they were both crying like lovesick fools but as Ed looked up, more drops started falling from the sky.
It started pouring all around them and everyone at the carnival started running for shelter down below them. When Ed looked down, he noticed Stede’s legs were still perfectly intact.
Ed looked to Stede for an explanation.
“It’s my father! He’s letting me go! All thanks to you, Ed.”
The rain had turned into a downpour but Ed and Stede kissed each other again like none of it mattered. Because it didn’t.
The ride attendant lowered them to the ground, yelling at everyone to get off the ride. They gave each other one more biting kiss before they ran off, hand in hand towards Ed’s bike.
They made it back to Ed’s house, drenched and giggly. They changed into warm bathrobes, which Stede insisted they buy on their trip to the mall yesterday, and settled into Ed’s bed.
“You know, Stede. I didn’t get it before but I think I figured out why everybody wants to find love so badly.”
“Mmm,” Stede said, his voice muffled into Ed’s neck as they were tucked against each other. “Why’s that?”
“Because it’s the closest thing we have to magic.”
“Well, being with you sure feels pretty magical. I think you’re right about that one.”
They kissed, for hours and hours. Ed couldn’t remember the last time he made out with someone just to kiss them. There was always a means to an end.
“Stede?” Ed whispered, unsure if he’d fallen asleep.
“Yes, love?”
Ed’s heart melted at that pet name.
“Will you come to the Last Splash dance with me tomorrow?”
Stede tucked himself further into Ed, wrapping his arms tighter around Ed’s torso.
“I’ll follow you wherever you go, Ed.”
Easy. Just like breathing.
